A survey by consumer watchdog Which? has revealed that two thirds of consumers get frustrated when trying to get into everyday products and that four in 10 have hurt themselves while trying to open packaging in the last two years.

GENERAL MERCHANDISE

Consumers voice frustrations over hard to open packaging

20 August 2013 | by The Retail Bulletin

A survey by consumer watchdog Which? has revealed that two thirds of consumers get frustrated when trying to get into everyday products and that four in 10 have hurt themselves while trying to open packaging in the last two years.

The survey of more than 2,000 people also found that a quarter of respondents regularly need help to open packaging and that one in five said that their food choices were limited by complicated packaging when out shopping.

Consumers were found to use a variety of implements to open packaging, from scissors (89%), knives (66%), Stanley knives (8%) and screwdrivers (6%). Some people even used razor blades (4%) and hammers (2%) to get to their goods.

Tin cans were the biggest cause of package related injuries with an estimated more than one million people UK-wide going to their GP or A&E in the last two years as a result of opening a tin.

Moulded plastic was revealed to be the biggest bugbear for consumers, with more than half (54%) finding the packaging irritating.

Which? editor, Richard Headland, said: “With one in four people telling us they regularly need help to open everyday products, bad packaging is not only frustrating but is causing injuries too. We want manufacturers to improve the design of product packaging and make opening instructions much clearer.”

Digitally native competitors and demanding customers are forcing a new perspective in retail. AI and machine learning can help you step up to the challenges; and some ‘small and beautiful’ solutions can increase your conversion rates within just a few weeks.